Happy Birthday Alexis

Our oldest, Alexis, is 9 today. This year feels very strange to me and I don't really know why. Maybe it is because I am beginning to see the pre-teen behavior in her. Maybe it is because time has passed so quickly. Or maybe it is because she is half-way to becoming 18. Whatever the reason I am left contemplating my LouLou. She hates it when I use her nicknames in front of others, but for these purposes and me feeling extremely sentimental I am going to call her what I love to call her.




Lexi Lou was born June 5, 2000. She was a fussy baby and Dusty and I would take turns pacing the floors with her in our arms as we gave each other a chance to try and sleep at night. She soon grew out of that. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to give her a bottle and she and I would lay on the couch together and fall asleep. We would wake up in the morning cuddling in the exact same spot on the couch. To this day she will still cuddle with me on the bed and watch a movie.


Lex is a great student and has always excelled in school. She is developing her talents and is becoming a beautiful dancer. She has so many things that she wants to be when she grows up. It makes me smile to hear her list them off; mom, teacher, dentist, doctor, ballerina, marine biologist...I hope that she keeps her passion for life and learning and can explore all of those areas as she gets older. It is my hope that she will have every opportunity to pursue her dreams and goals.



I love how spiritual she is and how sensitive she is to the Holy Ghost. I am grateful to be able to point out those experiences she is having that are helping her grow in spirituality. I thank God every day for the opportunity to be Alexis' mother. I love her more than anything and want her to know how wonderful she is.



Alexis is a great big sister and is always willing to help them or play with them. She is a wonderful friend and offers a kind, listening ear when I need to talk. I love our mother/daughter dates and am glad that she reminds me that we need to do them. She has a beautiful voice and I love to hear her sing. Alexis is so many things that I could type forever. She is funny, kind, sensitive, smart, helpful, humorous, playful, thoughtful and an all-around-sweetie.



We scheduled a birthday party this year for her with a Hawaiian theme but only 2 of her friends can come - the rest are out of town. She was very upset, but Dusty and I explained to her that since it is summer they are on vacation. We have decided to stray from our original plan and take her and two friends to the movie, UP, instead.

We love you Alexis.

Happy Birthday Alexis, Lex, Lexi, Lexi Lou or LouLou!!!!

We are moving to........................

North Carolina





Most of you already know this, but for those of you who don't know- we are moving to North Carolina. Dusty has accepted a new job with The Pantry, Inc. He will be a Senior Store Planner there, which is like moving up 2 positions with Cabela's. We are extremely excited to start this adventure. Dusty will be leaving Nebraska on June 14th. I will be here through the end of the month and will then be going to Utah for the entire month of July to visit family. We plan to officially move in to our new place (we don't know where that will be yet) on August 1st.



So there are many plans being made, me stressing (because that is what I do), and lots of decisions/conversations to be had.



But I do have a question for all of you. We are going to rent at first because I want to get a feel for the area and figure out where we want to buy. I don't want to jump in to buying something and end up in a crappy neighborhood. So here is my question. Rent a house or rent a apartment. Dusty likes the apartment idea. I like the house idea. So thoughts are welcomed because I can't figure out which would be best. I personally want it to feel as normal and as comfortable as possible for the kids; which is why I said house. But Dusty thought the apartment would be better so that we wouldn't have to stress about a yard and such (oh, and it would have a pool). I guess maybe this is a personal decision for he and I, but I would still like some comments so that I can decide. Thoughts anyone??



I guess I will have to change my blog address now.

Lemonade Stand

What would summer be without a lemonade stand?? Well my kids thought it was a great idea to have a lemonade stand today. So, I made cherry Kool-Aid, my neighbor Anne made strawberry lemonade and my other neighbor made blue Gatorade. We hauled a table out to the sidewalk, set up the kids' homemade signs and voila we had a lemonade stand. We live on a well-trafficked road so they had no problem attracting customers. In the end they made $10.20. We divided it by 6 kids and each kid went home with $1.70.

Below are the happy entrepreneurs.

I thought the kids were so cute. One kid went down the block a ways and started trying to herd cars over to the stand. In the beginning they were all standing up but by the end they had hauled camping chairs, a radio and a garbage can over to their stand. Kids sure are funny. Now that I think about it, I never did a lemonade stand growing up. I am glad that my kids had fun with it.

Notice the cute sign they made below that reads "coolade" rather than "Kool-Aid". Too cute!!

Below is Emma stirring up the Gatorade. See how she is wearing a witch Halloween costume in the middle of summer to serve lemonade.

Happy summer everyone. Go make some lemonade.

Memorial Day Rendezvous 2009

We went to Rendezvous again this year for our Memorial Day weekend. First off I want to recap how the weather was. Friday night: rain. Saturday night: more rain. Sunday night: even more rain. Surprisingly it was dry throughout the daytime. We are lucky to have a leak proof tent that is more like a big room (both Dusty and I can stand up in it and still have room to spare). Usually it rained right after dinner so we would head to the tent and turn on a DVD for the kids (I know, watching movies is not really camping. But hey, we've got it and it keeps the kids quiet while stuck in a tent).

Dusty wore "Mountain-Man" attire all weekend. All of what he is wearing was made by he and I. He did all of the leather work; pants, moccasins, impossibles bag, gun holster and I sewed the shirt (with the help of a friend in the ward).

The kids had a great time playing with friends and exploring. They played on the rope swing and in the creek. They did sack races, three-legged races, mini mountain man runs, hawk throwing and bobbed for apples. Dusty and I had a great time shooting and throwing hawks. It was so nice to get away for a long weekend and spend time together as a family.

In the end, Dusty placed 1st in the tomahawk throw and 3rd in the pistol shoot. I placed 1st in the women's knife throw and 3rd in the women's tomahawk throw.

I always leave rendezvous motivated to go home and sew more clothing. I still don't have any "period clothing" and I have all of these ideas for the girls and Jacob. Below are some pictures of the kids.

We were glad to get away from life and camp out on the beautiful Nebraska land that God has provided for us. Happy Memorial Day!!

Dance Recital

The girls had their dance recital a couple weeks ago on Mother's Day. They looked beautiful and were super excited to be allowed to wear mascara, blush and lipstick.

This year Alexis did both ballet and tap. This was her first year dancing tap and she was able to pick up quickly along with the other girls who already had one year under their belts. The theme of the recital was "A Salute to The Beatles". Her ballet dance was titled "Blackbird". The costume was a beautiful black ensemble with gold accents. She wore black tights and ballet shoes and had a black and gold hair accessory.

"Eight Days a Week" was the title of her tap performance. This costume was my personal favorite. It was a cute black and white polka dot leotard with black pants accented with polka dot fabric near the outside of the ankles. Her outfit had pink as an accent and they had black feathers in their hair buns. The girls were told to start the dance with attitude and Dusty and I just chuckled to see our 8 year old strutting her stuff as she tapped her little heart out. And she did it all ONE HANDED.

Below is Alexis in her tap costume. Can you see the attitude she has going on with her leg to the side? Oh, and her arm brace? She wasn't too thrilled that the arm brace covered up her costumes. To0 big I tell you. Way too big!!

This was Emma's first year in ballet. She cried every week that I took her. Miss Margaret, the girls' teacher, told me that as soon as the door was shut and Emma couldn't see or hear me she was fine. It was just an act. Imagine that!! So I was thoroughly excited when we arrived at ballet class a couple weeks before the recital to find that her costume had come in and she was happy when I left her there. Her costume was a lavender leotard with a white tutu. The costume also consisted of a little teddy bear that was dressed up in the same cute ballet outfit. She got to try on the costume and practice with her bear. It made the whole year of crying worth it. The first year of ballet for little ones like Emma is rough. Our teacher is very structured and the girls have to adjust. I am proud to say that Emma did not get on the stage and cry. She did the dance very well and looked like a beautiful princess. I am confident that next year she won't cry when I take her because now she knows that she gets a costume out of it. And we all know how she loves to dress up!!

My girls gave me a GREAT Mother's Day gift this year!!!

Emma

I have been messing around with Picasa and created this collage of Emma. Just thought I would share.

Easter

I know, I know. Easter was about a month ago and I am just barely posting pics of the kids. To be quite honest, it didn't really feel like Easter this year. It really snuck up on us and we were rushing to color eggs Saturday night at 8:30. I guess I should have been more prepared for it, but we were just busy I guess. The kids had a great Easter despite my lack of preparation and they looked adorable in their Easter clothes.

I couldn't help snapping this picture of Dusty and the girls leaving church. They really do love him a lot!!